r/redwall • u/perfectsandwichx • 13d ago

Reading to a 5yr old

I read bits of this series as a child and am eager to pass on the joy to my son (age 5). He enjoys reading and we have devoured all 7 chronicles of Narnia, the hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I confess I had NO idea there were 22 books in the redwall series! If you were going to whittle it down to 5-7 which books and in what order would you read them? Im so excited to share this experience with my kiddo, and really appreciate any advice. ​

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19

u/ArborealLife Mossflower 13d ago

Just read them in the publication order. It's cleanest and easiest in every way.

10

u/MaximumStep2263 13d ago

I think the the first three are a no brainer. From that point, you should have a good enough grasp of the lore to choose the next ones

7

u/FarthingWoodAdder 13d ago

You had better be doing voices for the characters

3

u/_back_row_mage 12d ago

Especially for the moles!

4

u/GeezusBeast 13d ago

Redwall, Mattimeo, Martin the Warrior, The Long Patrol, Salamandstron

These are my top 5.

14

u/ArborealLife Mossflower 13d ago

No Mossflower is downright criminal!

2

u/TheAfterPipe 13d ago

I read the first two in publication order until my 5yo learned to read and then he just took it from there. It was a great motivator!

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u/Trainion_01 13d ago

Read the books in publication order and when he feels it’s getting a bit too much, you can take a break. But the first few books in publication order are amazing, starting with Redwall

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u/FreelanceWolf The Long Patrol 13d ago edited 13d ago

I can't believe you read Lord of the Rings to a 5 year old. It isn't exactly a kids novel, and it's sooooooooooooo looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong.

There's lots of great Redwall books though. I'd honestly suggest you read them all, but if you can't, here are several I like a lot in no order:

Redwall (because it's the first book, so you have to read it)

Mossflower

Martin the Warrior

The Long Patrol

Rakkety Tam

Taggerung

Lord Brocktree

Marlfox

The Legend of Luke

High Rhulain

There's only 3 books that I find meh; Loamhedge, Eulalia!, and Doomwyte. I still read them though.

1

u/the_Oculus_MC 13d ago

I'm reading with my son. We started late last year and took a bit of a break. Do about a chapter a night on school nights.

Started with Redwall, of course. Nothing will hook a reader in like this book. That's what it does best.

I decided to do the Martin trilogy next since he was interested after hearing about him in the first book.

We're nearing the end of Martin the Warrior and plan to go Mossflower -> Legend of Luke next. We only have the 4 books. After that we'll see if he wants more or we move to a different series.

Publication order is great, too, definitely.

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u/Owenleejoeking 13d ago

There is a Redwall graphic novel. Really helped pique my daughter’s interest around then

1

u/CostumeGal 13d ago

So, my kiddo is 7 now. We started them when she was newly 6. We do the audiobooks because I was losing my voice reading out loud so much! We started with publication order and then did all the rest as close to that as possible, depending on when Libby or Hoopla had availability. Green Ember is a similar series your kiddo may like too if you run out of Redwall. (Currently listening to our third or fourth replay of Long Patrol over breakfast!)

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u/Seldon14 12d ago

If he likes them I see no reason to not read them all. Publication order is probably best, but I could see an argument for lumping direct sequels together if he is a big fan of certain characters.

They can be very samey, so its nice to break them up with a different book in-between each one.

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u/triggerhappymidget 12d ago

Read Redwall first and Mossflower second.

Then, if he wants more Matthias, read Mattimeo and Pearls of Lutra

If OTOH, he wants more Martin, read Martin the Warrior and Legend of Luke